One use of ink in PowerPoint 2003 is to take notes with a mouse or tablet pen that are viewable by the audience during a presentation. You can make comments or answer questions that are asked during the presentation by adding them directly to the slides. Because you can add handwritten notes in PowerPoint 2003, you don't have to switch to another program, use a keyboard, or take notes on paper. The ink you add is immediately visible to the audience. You can use ink to emphasize portions of the presentation by highlighting or circling relevant text and graphics on the slides.

You must be using PowerPoint 2003 with a Tablet PC to create or edit handwritten slides.

When you are creating or reviewing slides, you can add ink drawing and writing to emphasize certain portions of a slide during a presentation. Additionally, you can use handwriting or hand-drawn pictures to quickly design the overall layout of the information you want to convey on the slide. For example, you can draw a chart graphic that will be replaced with a Microsoft Excel chart when you finalize your slide. You might also send the slides to other people using a Tablet PC to add their review comments in ink.

Ink drawing and writing is viewable at all times, and you cannot edit the ink in Slide Show view unless you use ink annotations.